Dear students,
Welcome to the last day of the semester and the school year. You have now completed a year of Greek. Your hard work and effort have truly paid off. This achievement is a significant step to your future success both in life and in ministry. I could not be more proud of you.
G. K. Chesterton once said of Abraham Lincoln, "This great man had one secret far more unpopular among his followers than the habit of drinking. He had the habit of thinking. We might call it the habit of secret thinking, a dark consolation like that of the habit of secret drinking."
As you now begin to read your Greek New Testament regularly, please remember that Bible reading is a form of spiritual discipline. The disciplined mind weighs every important question of life and asks if Scripture speaks directly or indirectly to the matter. Today, at 73, Bible reading is more important to me than ever before. I know what a resilient man of discipline looks like, and I am determined to follow that path. The disciplined Bible reader is a master of questions. There is an art to asking questions of the text, and relatively few people master it. You be one of them.
Too many people see Bible study as a sprint -- something fast, furious, and quickly finished. But encountering God's word is more than a quick burst of speed. It's a marathon, and it demands endurance, determination, and a kick at the finish.
As the age of 22, I fell in love with my Greek New Testament. Fifty one years later I'm still in love.
The race isn't over yet.